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Presenter: Mitchel Resnick MIT Media Lab
Title: We've made a scratch, now let's make a dent



need a reason for what we do

success in future more about how we work creatively, not what we know or skills we have


education - more about developing as a creative thinker

innovative solutions - world changing quickly


one things that helps - is the ability to create - give kids more opportunities to create

develop tools and toys for designing creating inventing things


set of things around a creative activity


more toys are about interacting- not same as creating

spiral:

imagine
create
play
share
reflect
imagine.....


how to support different parts of the cycle


worked on lego mindstorms


pico cricket kit

motivation -
Lego mindstorms very successful - but some frustrations
not every kid wants to make robots
narrow focus


LOW FLOOR ( easy to start)
High ceiling


also need wide walls - many avenues of entires
tools can do many things -


Mindstorms - at most, 1/3 girls involved in after-school clubs


Pico Cricket - a pet, for example --- same logic as a robot - but in a meanignful context (art)



Playful Invention CO (PICO)
control music, light, sound


LEGO - still a founder owned product


NXT Mindstorms -


example:
control lights on boots
room security system
automatic toilet paper dispenser
alarm clock with a light sensor




first year sales of PICO- 1/3 of sales in Asia --


interactive media
not just interacting - but creating


same experiece of Crickets - but in virtual medium


in last few years - surge in user-generated content

UTube - is new, last 2-3 years


create and share online - NEW


most generating and sharing old media - flickr- sharing photos (been around 100 years)


SCRACTH - the UTUBE of Interactive media

went live in middle of May


software plus online community for sharing


kids can download a program - modify it

bee example - simple modification -- can grab just a part of it


more than 40% of projects are remix of existing project

lleads to discussions - hey someone stole my ideas

website keeps track of who remixed it and where it came from -- can follow where pieces came


take a game like TETRIS
a whole gallery was built around it


another type of collaboration:
sprite with costumes and walking animations - posted and said please use
requests to build things

now have created a web site called CRANK Inc

pulling kids together


Wodunne from NJ

Wodunne's World


SCRATCH News network

simulated newscast -- wiat - this IS a newscast
news for online Scratch community


this kid liked perfoming arts
a girl online was impressed with what he had done - he gave her reassurance
"This video is dedicated to Wodunne"


do not allow direct email between members

no private communication -- only public communications


challenges - regarding inappropriate content


right now - when you make a project -
SAVE
SAVE AS
SHARE -- automatically posts it to the Scratch Website

INSTANT Gratification - very powerful


Can sign up to see only reviewed projetcs - or all projects


Language part of menu -
Spanish - can change blocks to Spanish - so kids can share in different languages


connect to physical world
SCRATCH BOARD - just sensors - can interact with projects

e.g. project with two fish

one fish swims around - encounters shark - noise sensor - scream to help the fish avoid the shark

Can get a drum to respond to a circuit closing - can use a rand number generator to get a mix of sounds

can measure resistance -- use fruit to measure electrical resistance - get kids engaged in phyical world.




CELL PHONE Companies
authoring on a cell phone - hard to do
edit on computer - then load on cell phone - can send to other people
cell phones are not standard platforms - CHALLENGE

MAC and WINDOWS
working on

XO
Intel Classmate


get SCRATCH to get kids to control characters on Second Life

can create structures - hard to control behaviors

build a house
higher level - build a house -- if a friend comes to doo, open iron gate
different forms of collaboration


SCRATCH - primarily 2D or 2.5 D
much easier to create or import characters

-drag and drop

name SCRATCH - comes from hip-hop music - pick up samples of music - and make new music with it


people learn language in context - can learn programmign same way -- making it easier -- but not trivial
new style of programming - make it useful -- make it part of common culture ot be able to program



Questions
What does Scratch say about intellectual property?

site - tells you that you are sharing - iup front

source code will be released


but want recognition for what they do



not a classic open source project
notfocusing on this

4 years on SCRATCH interface -- not focusing on changing the scratch environment


Q: how do you focus on age range?
goal from start - ages 8 -15
didn't want lots of separate versions


now - peak users are age 12


Q:
What woiuld I have thought of this when I was ten years old?
Is this radio shack kits for this generation?


GOAL - reach wide range of kids
Natural appeal - make games -- trying not to make it a game site
stories, greeting cards, wide range of activities

some kids don't want top blog

expressive medium - not all kids want to do this

betetr chance of catching on -- once kids can put it on a facebook page...

Q: Also, are kids frustrated by not being able to make things?
some kids will need adult support
--computer clubhouses - kids helping other kids....


Web site - has different support materials
Scracth cards - show examples


Internet makes a difference - can see examples of how other kids do this

Q: template librarty - people learn by copying

why not get expert professionals to make templates


good news - 40,000 projects
need ways to fidn the examples you want


Q: modular things would be helpful

A: galleries of templates

Q: get kids ot do documentation
A: yes, but under-rating value of professional expertise in developing materials


Q: Did you think of it in terms of putting in context of kids needing to learn to program -- designed to lead you to other things?
A: focus not on programming only - but ideas that can be used in any program

at Harvard University - they start for first two weeks with Scratch; then go o to JAVA


Q: Compare/contrast with Flash
saw kids doing things with Photoshop - weren't making dynamic things - FLASH too hard to use


in FLASH - start with linear storyboards




Q: how far do kids go?
The joy is in the creation - more than in playing someone else's games